Drum tanning apparatus.



E. WILSON.

DRUM TANNING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24, i915.

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

7 BY if iws E. WILSON.

DRUM TANNING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24, 1915.

Patented Aug. 14, 1917.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Inventor Edward iVzZmn fifv E. WILSON.

DRUM TANNING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24. mg.

Patented Aug. 14, 1917.

s SHEETS-SHYEET 3.

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DRUM TANNING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 14:, 1917.

Application filed March 24, 1915. Serial No. 16,744.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD WILSON, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Hawthorne Road l/Vorks, Bootle, Liverpool, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Drum Tanning Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to an automatic feed which while applicable for use with the vats of tanning apparatus is also capable of application to other apparatus in which it is desired to maintain or increase the strength of liquor contained in a vat or similar receptacle during the progress of any process which may be carried on therein.

The invention is hereinafter described in its application to a tanning apparatus, the object being to expedite the process of tanning butts or hides beyond the limits imposed by the use of the chemical means in the manner that same have hitherto been employed for the purpose.

To quicken the process of tanning beyond the limits of chemistry and at the same time save labor, capital and space, depends upon mechanics, for however quickly a liquor may be capable of tanning, its effect when at rest gradually ceases as the pelt absorbs the strength from the liquor in immediate contact with its surface, unless the goods and liquor are in continual motion. But it is useless to give motion to the liquor without providing means for feeding it continually in due proportion to its power of absorption and progress in tanning.

The present invention therefore consists in means for maintaining or increasing the strength of the liquor to which the hides are exposed in order to meet the requirements of the hides as the tanning operation progresses.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a suitable construction of apparatus for enabling above object to be carried into effect, and in which Figure 1 is an end elevation showing the apparatus as applied to a vat in which a drum carrying the hides to be treated is caused to rotate.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in section on an enlarged scale of the means for regulatin g the inflow of liquor to the vat.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section thereof at right angles to the position shown in Fig. 2.

In carrying out my invention the butts or hides are mounted in a driun which is caused to revolve slowly within a vat 3 (preferably of semi-cylindrical form) in which the liquor to treat such hides or butts is maintained at a constant level by means of an overflow 20. The shaft 2 of the drum is mounted to revolve in hearings in said vat 3 and is suitably actuated as by worm 8 mounted on driving shaft 10 and engaging worm wheel 9.

A tank 16 capable of holding say 200 or 300 gallons of strong liquor or extract is arranged above the level of the vat 3 in which the tanning is to be effected, said tank being fitted with a stirrer (not shown) which may be actuated in any suitable manner to prevent settlement of the liquor. The outlet from said tank 16 is through a tube 17 which may be either flexible or rigid and one end of which works in a gland at or near the bottom of the tank while the other end or mouth 17 is supported on a level approximately the same as or below that of the liquor within the tank by a screw rod 18 or other suitable means which is actuated so as to be progressively lowered as the tanning process progresses, and thus permit of liquor issuing through the mouth, and which liquor falls into a suitable conduit 19 and is conveyed to the interior of the vat 3. The vat 3 is provided with an outlet- 20 communicating with the bottom thereof and the overflow mouth 2O of which can be adjusted in height, so that as the fresh strong liquor is delivered from the feed tank 16 to the interior of said vat 3, a sufficient portion of the liquor already contained therein will pass out through such overflow 20 to maintain the required constant level of such liquor within the vat, but the strength of which will be gradually and continuously maintained or increased, according to the volume of strong liquor which is supplied from the liquor tank 16 as the mouth l7 of the delivery pipe 17 therefrom is lowered.

An automatic feed of strong liquor to the tanning vat is provided in this apparatus, said feed being independent of the level of the liquid in the strong liquor supply tank. The means herein illustrated for effecting this independent automatic feed will now be described. A screw rod 18 to which the supply pipe 17 is attached is actuated so as to lower the mouth 17* thereof from the driving shaft 10. For this purpose a worm 21 is disposed on the driving shaft and motion is transmitted therefrom to a worm-wheel 22 having a pinion 22 and a gear-wheel 23 having a wrist pin 2-l is engaged and driven by said pinion. A rod 25 is connected at its inner end to said wrist pin 24 and at its outer end to a lever 26 carrying a pawl 27 shown in Figs. 2 and 3. p A screw rod 18 passes through a sleeve 28 secured to a worm-wheel 29, which is engaged by a worm 30 carried by the axis 31 on which the lever 26 carrying the pawl 27 oscillates. I

A ratchet wheel 32 is attached to the worm 30 and close to the side thereof is mounted a disk 33, a part of the periphery 33 of which extends beyond the teeth of said ratchet wheel, while the remainder of said periphery is recessed or cut away to permit the pawl 27, which extends over said disk 33, and ratchet wheel 32, to engage the teeth of the latter.

The disk 33 is adjustable on its axis in relation to the ratchet wheel 32, and the position of the portion 33 thereof which prevents the engagement of the pawl 27 wit-h the teeth of the latter, will determine the number of teeth such pawl will advance the ratchet wheel on the forward movement imparted thereto by the lever 26 on which said pawl is carried, and so regulate the feed imparted to screw 18 in a given time, and thereby control the rate of delivery of the strong liquor fromv tank 16 through tube 17 to conduit 19, and so to vat 3.

After the disk 33 has by knobs 34: been shifted, a hinged indicating and retaining finger 35 is turned to engage one of a series of notches or teeth 36, on a graduated portion of the periphery of said disk, marked with a scale indicating the position the disk must be shifted to in order to insure the necessary rate of rotation of screw 18 to effect the feed required.

The sleeve 28 through which the screw rod 18 works instead of being secured directly to the worm wheel 29 is operated therefrom by means of a pawl 29 mounted on a lug 28 at the lower end of the sleeve, and which engages a face ratchet wheel 37 on the upper surface of said worm wheel, so that the disengagement of said pawl will allow the screw to be raised or lowered independently when desired to move mouth 17 of tube 17 to the level of the liquid in supply tank 16. The sleeve 28 is provided with a reduced upper end 28 on which is rigidly set a flaring or cup-shaped hand wheel 41. A split nut 50 engages the upper end of the screw rod 18. The sections 51- and 52 of this split nut are attached to op opposite points with inwardly projecting studs i2 and a3 respectively. The adjacent ends of the studs 42 and 57 are apart from each other and a spiral spring connected at opposite ends to said studs spans the space between them, and the adjacent ends of the studs 58 and are also apart from each other and a spiral spring 16 engaging said studs spans the space between them. These springs tend to hold the split nut 50 in engagement with the upper end of the screw shaft 18 and permit the sections of said nut to swing outward so as to allow said shaft 18 to be pulled upward independently of its threads. The threads of the screw shaft and of the split nut are tapered upward to enable the free movement of the shaft to take place, said threads being operative to hold the shaft against a downward sliding movement.

An index finger 38 (Fig. 1) mounted on the screw rod 18 and moving over a graduated scale 39 registers the amount of feed of the strong liquor which has been effected to the vat 3 from the tank 16 as the tanning operation progresses.

The mouth of the overflow pipe 20 from the bottom of vat 3 can by means of the chain 40 be adjusted in height so that the overflow therefrom shall correspond to the rate of feed to such vat from supply tank 16, and thus insure the maintenance of the liquor at a constant level therein.

I claim as my invention:

1. An apparatus of the character described comprising a vat, a rotary drum disposed therein, a driving mechanism for said drum, an elevated feed liquor tank, an outlet pipe communicating with the lower part of said tank and having an elevated adjustable overflow mouth, auxiliary mechanism connected with said driving mechanism and operative to continuously lower said overflow mouth, means for conveying the liquid issuing from said mouth to the interior of said vat, and an escape conduit from said vat.

2. An automatic liquid feed apparatus comprising a strong liquor supply tank, an upwardly extending swinging conduit connected with said tank, a screw rod connected to said conduit, a sleeve in which said screw rod slides, a worm wheel for actuating said sleeve, a worm engaging said worm wheel, aratchet wheel on the axis of said worm, a. lever on said axis, a pawl carried by said lever and engaging said ratchet wheel, and an adjustable disk having a portion of its periphery adapted to withhold said pawl from engagement with said ratchet wheel.

3. The combination of a tank, an adjustable conduit communicating with the interior thereof, a screw rod connected with the delivery end of said conduit, a sleeve carrying a nut engaging said screw rod, means for mechanically rotating said sleeve to lower said screw rod and conduit, a graduated indicating scale, and an index carried by said screw rod and movable over said scale for indicating the flow of liquor through said conduit from said tank.

4:. An automatic feed device comprising an adjustable conduit, a screw rod connected with the delivery end of said conduit, a sleeve provided with a nut engaging said screw rod, gearing for actuating said sleeve, and a ratchet and pawl connection between said gearing and sleeve.

5. An automatic feed device comprising an adjustable conduit, a screw rod connected with the delivery end of said conduit, a sleeve, a hand wheel fixed to said sleeve and carrying a split nut engaging said screw rod, gearing for actuating said sleeve, and

a ratchet and pawl connection between said gearing and sleeve.

6. An automatic feed for maintaining or increasing the strength of liquor in a vat comprising a vat, a conduit adapted to serve as an inlet for said vat, an elevated liquor tank, an outlet conduit connected with said tank and having an adjustable delivery orifice adapted to deliver into said inlet conduit, and mechanical means operative independently of the level of li uid in said tank to continuously lower sai adjustable delivery orifice. I

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDVVD. WILSON.

Witnesses:

SARA M. STEVENS, ERNEST EDWARDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

